Saturday, March 28, 2020

Year A, Lent 5, Ezekiel 37.1-14, John 11.1-45

Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.Amen

By the time you
hear this sermon I’m not sure where we will be.We recorded it 10 days ago so I’m not sure what will have happened
already since then.

Life is at one
and the same time on pause as we step back and spend our days social distancing
to prevent the spread of the COVID 19 virus, and also a frantic whirlwind as
changes are coming every day.

I pray that you
are doing well, taking your precautions, and most of all remaining healthy.

Two weeks ago I
talked about viewing this time as a time of solitude, not isolation.Solitude in a spiritual sense of stepping
back from the world to reflect, and most of all, to listen.To listen to God, and in a new way, perhaps
even to one another as we find different ways to connect.

So this is a time
of solitude.A different sort of Lenten
journey for us.

Still, amid all
the changes and closures and shortages caused by this outbreak there are those
that question whether this is really a threat or not.

Let me share a
couple of statistics from China that were current as of March 16th.

What they’ve
experienced in China is that the COVID 19 virus is not seriously affecting
young people.For example, no children
under the age of 10 have died.And for
those under the age of 40 the mortality rate is 0.02%.

But then it
becomes more deadly as we age.

Those in their
sixties have a mortality rate of 3.6%.

Those in their
seventies have a mortality rate of 8%.

And 15% of those
over eighty who contract the disease will die from it.

6My
soul waits for the Lord more than those who keep watch | for the
morning,more than those who keep watch | for the morning.

Of all the prayers we could offer at this
time, perhaps the most critical would be for the health care professionals who
are diligently working to care for the sick and to come up with a vaccine or
cure.

Lord, help them.

The impact of this will be far reaching.

Businesses are being forced to close.

Children can’t go to school.

Churches across the nation have cancelled
worship and all other activities.

And all of a sudden our telephones and
computers have become our only safe source of connection with one another and
the world in which we live.

Four weeks ago, I would have never imagined
this scenario.But here we are.

Today’s lessons
speak to hope in the face of disease and death and the unraveling of a country.

Ezekiel wrote at
the time of the exile.

He saw a vision
of a valley of dry bones.Those dry
bones represented what was left of their country after it was destroyed by Babylon.

Nothing but dry
bones.

But then he was
instructed to declare the Word of the Lord and from those dry bones the nation
would reemerge.

And then we have
the story of Lazarus, and Jesus calling him forth from the tomb.

Both of these
passages in scripture point to one most important reality.Hope is never lost for those who trust in
God.

We need that kind
of hope right now.

We live in a time
of fear.

I find myself
dealing with a variety of fears.

I’m concerned for
my family, but not nearly as much as they are concerned for Karla and I, we
being the elderly, now.

I’m concerned for
you.To put it bluntly, I’m concerned
that when we are finally able to resume worship you will all be there.

But having said
that I wonder about the impact of this on our little congregation.Can we survive?What will happen to us if this goes on for a
long period?If we lose members to the
virus?If the offerings dry up and we
become bankrupt?

I’m concerned for
our nation and the impact this is having, even beyond the health threat.

Businesses will
close.

Life savings are
dwindling.

People are
hoarding stuff, creating a situation of the haves and the have not’s.

And I’m left
wondering about our world.

I can sort of understand
why people are stock piling toilet paper.Sort of.I mean, really folks,
toilet paper?Even in a worst case
scenario there are other ways to clean yourself.

What I really
can’t understand is why people are rushing out and buying guns.I mean really, it’s not as though you can
defend yourself by shooting the virus.Have people gone mad???

Fears.

But then there is
hope.

I hope because we
have great people in the medical field, many of whom are working non-stop to
find a solution.This likely won’t be as
bad as the flu in 1918 because we have made many advances in medicine since
then.

I hope because we
can do this.We can wash our hands and
live in solitude for a while to stave off the spread of the virus.

I hope because
rather than destroying our congregation this may be a time of renewal.When we can finally meet again we may find
ourselves cherishing that opportunity more than ever.

I hope because
often adversity brings out the best in people, not the worst.

But most of all I
hope because God can bring forth life from dry bones and call us out of the
grave.

We are fasting in
the broadest sense of that word.

But the time is
coming when we will be able to feast once again.

I don’t know how
long that will be, and the guidance we are receiving from the government
changes daily.

When we cancelled
services, our understanding was that we might be able to resume meeting on
Easter Sunday.

Now, it appears
likely that it will be much longer.

How long until
the threat passes we simply do not know.

But I remain
hopeful because, as Jerry Kramer, the hall of fame football player and
Sandpoint native, said:“You can if you
will.”

We can meet all
of these challenges.

The only question
is if we will.

We can wash our
hands, for Pete’s sake.

We can avoid unnecessary
personal contact for a season.

We can care for
one another in new and safe ways.

We can be the
people of God even when we cannot assemble here in this place.

The only question
is will we?

And I have
confidence in you and your spirit to do these things.

But more than
that I have confidence in the Lord to watch over us and our comings and goings
and to renew us by the power of his Spirit and to restore our good fortune.

May this peace
that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our
Lord.Amen